FRED MITCHELL ON THE WAY WE LIVE
The following is a transcript of a voice note sent to PLP supporters by the Chairman of the PLP Fred Mitchell on Friday 17 July 2026:
One of my pet peeves is garbage and the collection of garbage and the keeping of the environment clean. Another pet peeve is responding to inquiries by members of the public and constituents and anticipating the discomfort of the use of public utilities, and when there are difficulties responding sensitively to those difficulties. Another is to try to be as objective, as I can about myself. People should have objectivity about their needs desires and wants and try not to be so grabalicious, that you have no self-restraint, no governor on your wants and desires.
Pat Rahming, the musician, who appeared before me in 1993, when I was chairman of the Senate Select Committee On Culture, described culture as follows: “the way we live”. I think that says it best, and I say that in the context of asking all Bahamians from top to bottom today to look at the way we live.
In the main, it is a joyous, happy-go-lucky existence, but in some respects, that’s a show put on for tourists and in other respects, it’s real life. One American Ambassador criticized us during the time of the 9/11 crisis as having a systemic lack of appreciation for security concerns.
I remember attending a Chamber of Commerce function in Nassau once. They brought in experts on festivals and they said that you should keep the festival grounds clean. It is highly trafficked and you ought to hire people to pick up the garbage continuously during the festival and clean the bathrooms continuously.
Think about our festivals. Does that happen here? Nine times out of 10, you view the detritus of the good times sitting on the grounds uncollected for days after the festival is over. Part of the frustration with our banks, our utility companies, our emergency services is the lack of response and explanation and the ability to manage effectively when something goes wrong, as it will inevitably do.
As a people, we mourn today the dead in that plane crash, but the society doesn’t seem to have the ability to extrapolate from mishaps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. It doesn’t happen perhaps because that is the way we live apparently.
It is also a knee jerk reaction to blame politicians. My analysis is that there’s something more at work here than blaming any class of people.
It is clear that whenever events happen, there are reasons, and if we respond rationally, and learn the lessons of how and why then we can change the way we live, Shakespeare says to us that it is not in the stars that we find ourselves in trouble but it is in ourselves.
End